Open-Source CMS · wintercms

winter

Winter CMS is a free, self-hosted, Laravel-based PHP content management system designed for rapid development and prototyping. It was forked from October CMS in 2021 and maintains an active community with regular updates and clear governance structure.

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Source: GitHub — github.com/wintercms/winter

1.5k

GitHub stars

243

Forks

PHP

Primary language

MIT

License (OSI-approved)

Key facts

Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.

Field	Value
Repository	wintercms/winter
Owner	wintercms
Primary language	PHP
License	MIT — OSI-approved
Stars	1.5k
Forks	243
Open issues	108
Latest release	v1.2.12 (2026-02-20)
Last updated	2026-07-06
Source	https://github.com/wintercms/winter

What winter is

Built on Laravel with an abstraction layer via the Storm library to insulate from upstream breaking changes. Uses PHP with standard PSR coding standards; supports Composer-based installation and database migrations via Artisan CLI. Includes WYSIWYG editor support via licensed Froala integration.

Quickstart

Get the winter source

Clone the repository and explore it locally.

terminalbash

1git clone https://github.com/wintercms/winter.git2cd winter3# follow the project's README for install & configuration

Need it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.

Best use cases

Small to mid-sized custom web projects

Rapid prototyping and development for agencies building content-driven sites. Laravel foundation enables custom business logic extension without forking the core.

Self-hosted CMS deployments

Organizations needing full control over data and infrastructure, with ability to customize themes and plugins within a PHP/Laravel environment.

Developer-friendly CMS requirements

Teams comfortable with PHP/Laravel seeking an alternative to proprietary or SaaS-locked CMS platforms with transparent open-source governance.

Implementation considerations

Requires PHP environment (version not specified in excerpt); confirm server requirements against target infrastructure before deployment.
Database migrations and initial setup via Artisan CLI suggests moderate DevOps overhead; requires operational familiarity with Laravel tooling.
Plugin/theme ecosystem maturity unknown; evaluate available extensions for your use case to avoid custom development scope creep.
Forked from October CMS in 2021; review breaking changes and migration path if existing October CMS sites are being considered for migration.
Auto-generated admin password in setup suggests initial onboarding should include credential rotation and access control hardening procedures.

When to avoid it — and what to weigh

Headless-first or API-driven workflows required — Winter is a traditional coupled CMS; headless capabilities not described in available documentation.
No PHP/Laravel expertise in-house — Deployment, customization, and troubleshooting require PHP and Laravel knowledge; not suitable for non-technical users without dedicated dev support.
Enterprise support SLA or vendor backing mandatory — Community-driven project with no commercial support entity; reliance on volunteer maintainers and Discord community for critical issue resolution.
Large-scale multi-tenant SaaS platform — Self-hosted architecture and unclear multi-tenancy design make it unsuitable for high-volume SaaS deployments without significant custom engineering.

License & commercial use

MIT License (MIT) – OSI-approved, permissive open-source license allowing commercial use, modification, and distribution with attribution and liability disclaimer.

MIT License permits commercial use without explicit permission or fee. However, no formal commercial support, warranty, or indemnification provided by the project. Vendoring the codebase, security patching, and long-term maintenance responsibility rest with the user. Evaluate risk tolerance for critical business systems accordingly.

DEV.co evaluation signals

Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.

Signal	Assessment
Maintenance	Active
Documentation	Adequate
License clarity	Clear
Deployment complexity	Moderate
DEV.co fit	Good
Assessment confidence	High

Security considerations

Project maintains a security policy (GitHub security/policy referenced). Auto-generated admin credentials in setup is a reasonable baseline, but no mention of encryption, authentication mechanisms, input validation frameworks, or OWASP compliance. As a self-hosted system, security posture depends heavily on deployment environment hardening, database security, and user access control implementation. Recommend security audit before production use with sensitive data.

Alternatives to consider

Statamic

Modern PHP CMS with Laravel foundation; stronger headless capabilities and API-first design; active commercial backing and support options.

Craft CMS

Flexible, self-hosted CMS with strong content modeling; maturer ecosystem; commercial license option available for production support.

WordPress (with headless plugins)

Larger ecosystem and plugin marketplace; more hiring pool; traditional self-hosted option; higher community and third-party support volume, though requires additional tooling for modern workflows.

Software development agency

Build on winter with DEV.co software developers

Review the full documentation and community guidelines. Test Composer installation in a staging environment. Confirm Laravel expertise and deployment infrastructure before committing to production.

Talk to DEV.co

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winter FAQ

Is Winter CMS suitable for production e-commerce sites?

Not clearly stated. Winter is described as a CMS for content-driven projects. E-commerce-specific features (cart, payment processing, inventory) are not mentioned. Requires review of available plugins and custom development feasibility.

What PHP version is required?

Unknown. Documentation excerpt does not specify minimum or recommended PHP version. Check installation docs and composer.json before provisioning infrastructure.

Can Winter run on shared hosting?

Likely possible but requires confirmation. Composer, PHP CLI (Artisan), and database access are required. Most shared hosting supports these, but verify with your provider that Laravel/Winter CLI tooling is permitted.

How does Winter handle content versioning or rollback?

Unknown. Git-based deployment and Laravel migrations are likely workflows, but content-level versioning, draft/publish workflows, and rollback mechanisms are not described in the excerpt. Consult full documentation.

Software developers & web developers for hire

DEV.co is a software development agency delivering custom software development services to companies building on open source. Our software developers and web developers design, integrate, and ship production systems — spanning web development, APIs, AI, data, and cloud. If winter is part of your open-source cms roadmap, our team can implement, customize, migrate, and maintain it.

Evaluate Winter CMS for Your Project

Review the full documentation and community guidelines. Test Composer installation in a staging environment. Confirm Laravel expertise and deployment infrastructure before committing to production.

Talk to DEV.co Schedule a Consultation